NO WAY! :D
That's exactly what I'm planning on doing! :thumbsup:
Printable View
That's okay, Ezekiel, but with or without a Valom undercarriage I find that cursing is a necessary tool for building a Valom kit. Just ready to paint 2 Valom EIII which I converted to EII. Got to the last stage and found that one of the wheels had fallen off the sprue and disappeared. Had to quickly scratch build two - two so that they'd look similar on each side. Darn. I thought I had been careful with those sprues but it's been a distracting week.
I know Paul! I tried (and miserably failed) to build up a Valom Sopwith Pup ... that's why I asked Roman (Kampflyer) to design an Albatros D.V undergarriage for me (I have a crazy amount of them and just about 10 Valom's kits).
Question: in your opinion: Are photoetched struts from Valom sturdy enough or is it a good idea replacing them with something else?
Hi Ezekiel,
I'm very happy to use the photoetched struts. As I found when I tried to dissemble a Fokker EIII those pe parts can be tough. Yes, you can bend them if you're not careful, but if you're not careful you are more likely to launch the pe piece into low earth orbit. Once they're glued into the model I think they're sturdy enough for my game play. I'm paranoid about the plane coming apart so I use super-glue to fix the pe parts initially and then a little bit of epoxy so that the joint has flexibility as well as strength which makes my plane not so elegant as a model. I hide that by distracting people with my paint job. :lol:
Excellent! I will try to use some of the original Photoetched for the struts that attach the wings to the fuselages since I don't have so many spare parts of those and I find them much harder to scratch build than the "V" struts that hold upper and lower wings together.
Argentine's Government imposed a 24 hours coronavirus quarantine until March 31th.
What does the President want me to do? Stay home working on my Jasta 26 for ten days??!!
Well OK. Yes Mr. President! I will do it Sir! Attachment 283797
Yesterday's shipment of custom flight stands and a solo play template after application of spray paint to make all the markings stand out. Now I have to finish two of the airplanes and completely paint a third. The fourth has been done for awhile but was awaiting its flight stand.
Attachment 283807
Very nice Robert. You need to do a HOW TO on what you did to make those flight stands stand out like they do. Excellent job.
It's easy to do as the Nieuport photos earlier in this thread show. I would love to do a HOW TO article something else that I have done, but I have no idea where such articles should reside. A person could even earn a medal for posting 'HOW TO' articles, not that I want to earn more medals :eek:.
Started these in February, but finished them in March. First a late model Albatros W 4 painted as an early model. I had the custom card and didn't want to fiddle with German Navy hex pattern. The model is Shapeways by Kampfflieger, the cross decals are 1/144 Direct and the numbers are from Fighting Pirannha Graphics.
Attachment 283839
Attachment 283840
Attachment 283841
Hansa Brandenburg KDW. Same info for this model, but I lost the propeller. I have Keith's spinning prop discs, but I don't have a pin for attaching the disc to the model.
Attachment 283842
Attachment 283843
Attachment 283844
A North Sea patrol. Where is Pseudotheist and his Felixstowe F.2A. I think we can take him (with a little help).
Attachment 283845
I usually use the containers from Hillshire Farm lunchmeat for LEGO pieces, but they are useful for transporting airplanes, too. Two small scouts, bases, pegs and maneuver decks fit. I put larger seaplanes one to a container.
Attachment 283846
Very nice stuff Robert. I am sure we will see them flying one of these days.
Awesome looking Sea planes!!!!
No Church service today. So I painted a Battlemech and a Hardened Firebase for Battletech instead.
Here is the Battlemech. A Whitworth from 3025.
Attachment 283862
And a 1/300 scale sci-fi generic Harden Firebase
Attachment 283863
Robert we must have been on the same page with the paint jobs. Mine are Turkish Pfalz DIII"s.
Attachment 283875
Attachment 283876
Attachment 283877
Shapeways models by RAF Miscmini decals. As always I see touch up areas after taking a photo.
Here is an Italian Polimio PE.
Attachment 283933
Attachment 283934
Looks great, Bob.
:thumbsup:
I am really surprised Ares hasn't given us those.
Still have a few other Italian planes I am working on. I see a future North Sea battle due to Roberts seaplanes. In the seaplane book I just bought it says that the Germans were more into floatplanes then flying boats. The Austrians had all the flying boats so that is another area for me to look at.
Great paintjob, Bob. The Italian plane looks perfect, but the Turkish are awesome. I also have some Turkish repaints done especially for games with my Turkish friend living nearby. Any sources for Turkish aifrcaft profiles?
One that I have is the AIRCRAFT OF WW I 1914-1918. Here is a scan of the cover.
Attachment 283941
There is a series that covers different periods.
This is another book but most of the color profiles are early planes that the Turks had. Only 2 plates of Rumplers.
Attachment 283942
tis is a HELION book. They have a lot of information in their books.
Kurt von Crailsheim (Oct 1915, FFA 53 - CDL Fokker) and Ernst Freiherr von Althaus (Dec 1915, Kek Vaux - Grey Fokker)
The EII are convert from the Valom Fokker EIII kit. Happened by miscalculation than intention. Had the decals made up; ordered the Valom kits and then realized that the decals were for EII and since Crailsheim died on 30 December 1915 there was no chance he used the same paint scheme for an EIII. The conversion was pretty easy - scrap off the compass on the right wing and bulk up the right side of the cowling.
One further mishap was I lost one of the wheels from the sprue. I know this can easily happen and was 'paying attention' but it's been a distracting couple of weeks. Anyway at the last stage when I went to glue on the wheels I found one of them (for the grey Fokker) missing. Panic - but preserving my toilet paper supply I realized the sprue was about the right diameter. I chopped off a couple of disks (2 so that the wheels would match), from the sprue and not a toilet paper roll, and put a bead of modelling paste around the rim for a tire. They're not elegant and I may some day replace them but more likely I will forget all about it.
ETA: 4th photo has silvering on the aluminum bits. I had forgotten to do this in the other photos.
Attachment 283951 Attachment 283950 Attachment 283949 Attachment 284044
Great job Paul. I try my best when doing mine and that keeps me occupied and out of trouble.
Here is Ansaldo Baby (RAF, Daryl, Shapeways model).
Attachment 283955
Attachment 283956
Attachment 283957
As always after I take the picture I see the areas that need to be touched up.
Since I'm stuck at home anyway, I decided to do up a custom storage tray for some Shapeways models I have procured. Namely, a trio of the RAF FE 2b. They are just the wrong size and shape for Keith's trays, as well-made as those are. And then, as long as I was doing that, thought I'd post the how-two here; aimed at those of you with your own 3-D printers. If you don't have one of those, but are handy with hobby tools, this works for a tray made of hobby wood, as well. Seven fairly easy steps:
1. Procure your supplies: A 3-D printer, filament, the miniature(s) you're working with, and a roll of micro-cell foam, available at most home crafting stores. You'll need this for cushioning:
Attachment 283969
2. Measure out your model.
Attachment 283970
3. It helps to draw up two things here. One is a footprint blank of the model in question:
Attachment 283971
Note that some of the details of the storage tray vary a little bit from the blank. The idea here is to have something you can move around on the plan in the next step.
4. The next step is to draw out a full-scale blue print.
Attachment 283972
The main variance, you will notice is that the empennage cage space differs greatly from the blank. But it helped to have the blank, as that was what finally got me to understand that I just wasn't going to fit more than four miniature compartments *and* their corresponding card compartments on one tray. The extra space is to allow fingers to get at the miniature easily. When drawing up the blueprint, remember to allow extra space for the cushioning: ultimately, you want a close enough tolerance so that your miniature isn't bouncing around in the tray, but loose enough so that you don't have to apply pressure when removing the mini for play, or returning it to storage. Also, in my specific case, my 3-D printer has a maximum object print volume of 150mm x 150mm x 150mm. I therefore, had to plan for six sections of tray.
5. Print out, assemble, and glue the individual compartments into a semi-finished tray.
Attachment 283973
Again, in my particular case, I had a number of other things I was 3-D printing for my household, so on a whim, I made each section a different color. If your blueprint (as this one does) necessitates a compartment crossing a print section, then re-write your measurements in terms of each individual section when you go to designing the print object. It will save a lot of headache later.
6. Attach the microcell cushioning.
Attachment 283974 Attachment 283975
Note that I went for the minimum amount of cushioning I considered necessary: that stuff is expensive!
Also note: don't try and do a continuous ribbon all around the compartment. The microcell foam doesn't follow right-angle contours very well.
Also note: don't use plastic glue/cement or epoxy to attach the microcell foam, use ordinary white glue. The microcell foam doesn't stand up very well to anything but white glue. (For those of you unfamiliar with plastic model cement, it actually works by partially melting the plastic an literally cementing the plastic parts together as it dries.)
7. Make a final check of your fit: this is actually best done after printing out just one compartment of each of cards and miniatures. If you've messed up the measurements/printing, you've wasted a minimum amount of time and material.
Attachment 283976
Now, If I get to feeling I want a prettier, more "finished" look, I can fill the dead spaces with styrofoam (cut to size with a hot styrofoam cutting wand), pop that in the tray. The cover the thing with more cut-to-form microcell foam.
Oh, and the next thing on my workbench: Paint those FE 2s! As a happy coincidence, my daughter got a few custom fantasy figure miniatures from Hero Forge. She & I both have Fridays off, which means we set up a miniature painting date for two days from now.
That's a great job and how to Sam. Have to post your and daughters get together this Friday.
Outstanding work guys
Nice work on the tray for your Fees, Sam.
:thumbsup:
Mine are in a spare Famous Aces box with loose pieces of foam.
Hope to see the planes themselves Over the Trenches some day when you rejoin the campaign.
Here are a couple of more planes I have done so far. These are Bristol Scouts. Nothing special.
Attachment 283988
Attachment 283989
It still makes me smile that you are on a Magic card! I was watching Antique Roadshow the other night and a lady brought some of her husbands "old Magic the Gathering cards". I guess she had something called an Alpha Set, complete with a Black Lotus. The appraiser dude just about passed out. He wouldn't even touch the cards - even with his white gloves on. Said they were worth up to $100,000. So I googled... cause it's what I do... and a mint condition Black Lotus card sold on eBay for $166,000. And I thought I was absurd. :confused:
Here's a flight of Morane-Saulnier 406s I'm almost done with. Just a touch up and they're good to go for me to start the FitS campaign.
Attachment 284036
Attachment 284037
Wow those 406’s look amazing. Well done sir
Those are some beautiful aircraft!:thumbsup:
Those are much better then the ones I have.
Really nice, Peter :thumbsup:
Nicely done, Peter.
:sAprvd:
I will have re-look at the FitS scenarios and see if I can give my Belgian Hurricanes and French Dewoitaines a chance at the table.